Monday, April 23, 2012

April Platform Challenge: Day 23

After today's task is complete, there will only be a week's worth of tasks left. If you're still here and caught up, then go you! If you're a little behind, now is the perfect time to dig deep and make that final push to get everything done. You can do it!

Time for a time management plan.

For today's task, create a time management plan.

You may be wondering why I didn't start out the challenge with a time management plan, and here's the reason: I don't think some people would've had any idea how long it takes them to write a blog post, share a link on Twitter and Facebook, respond to social media messages, etc. Now, many of you probably have a basic idea--even if you're still getting the hang of your new-fangled social media tools.

Soooo... the next step is to create a time management plan that enables you to be "active" socially and connect with other writers and potential readers while also spending a majority of your time writing.

As with any plan, you can make this as simple or complicated as you wish. For instance, my plan is to do 15 minutes or less of social media after completing each decent-sized task on my daily task list. I use social media time as a sort of break, which I consider more productive than watching TV or playing Angry Birds.

I put my writing first and carve out time in the mornings and evenings to work on poetry and fiction. Plus, I consider my blogging efforts part of my writing too. So there you go.

My plan is simple and flexible, but if you want to get hard core, break down your time into 15-minute increments. Then, test out your time management plan to see if it works for you. If not, then make minor changes to the plan until it has you feeling somewhat comfortable with the ratio of time you spend writing and time you spend building your platform.

Remember: A platform is a life-long investment in your career. It's not a sprint, so you have to pace yourself. Also, it's not something that happens overnight, so you can't wait until you need a platform to start building one. Begin today and build over time--so that it's there when you need it.

But for today, just start figuring out how to manage your time, especially beginning on May 1.

*****

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77 comments:

Done, Robert. I am an obsessive planner and organiser. First thing each morning, I pick up all email notifications from social networks: Facebook, Twitter mentions and DM, Google+, etc. I read through them while I stir oatmeal, tagging messages that I want to reply to. I don't reply to them all; some are rhetorical, some are deadends not requiring a response. During the day, my mind churns out replies, some of which I note on paper, others I just make mental notes. I reply first to those in my own timezone. Replies to people in the US can wait a bit as they're still asleep, so promptness is a waste of time. I spend no more than 1/2 hour replying to email and notifications, 1/2 hr in the morning and 1/2 early afternoon. I check social networks and poetry blogs again after dinner, and reply where needed.

For my writing, I'm more alert in the morning, so most writing is done before lunch. I write for 2-hrs, then go for a walk with the dog (mental writing time then).

I usually have a notepad nearby, ready for notes and lines that pop into my head because my memory for such things isn't what it used to be.

I did this while I was doing the editorial calendar--otherwise I would have been lost! I put the whole thing in Google Calendar (shared with my iCal)--I even did a screenshot and posted it to my FB! I didn't know how else to do the editorial calendar...

I always check my e-mail first in the morning so I get all the social media alerts and such and I can follow up with RT's and replys on Twitter, "likes" on Facebook, etc. This usually takes about 1/2 an hour of my morning and I check in the evening (CST) after work.

What I need to create a scheduled time block for is just writing for my WIP. I can squeeze in time for writing my blog whenever. I'm really a morning person though. Does anyone have suggestions please?

Very, very hard. I tried to follow Robert's advice of the 15-minute breaks between major tasks, but found out that attending social media and e-mails takes up more time. Roughly speaking, I try to work for 60 min, then take 15 min off. Doesn't work all the time, of course. still, I do believe that time management is very important to keep me from muddling around. I like the idea of the editorial plan, too. yet, I haven't made one yet. I seem to be writing only poems these days, apart from study for exams, so no real blogging or other writing done.

Done. What I've discovered is that my writing is becoming quicker and focused. It was previously not unusual for me to stress out over a single blog post, and before I knew it, I'd spent more than a couple hours combined getting it out. Part of my issue was trying to cover multiple points in a single post. Now I know the benefits of sticking to one idea, fleshing it out, and having enough content for future submissions. Between a good time plan and an editorial calendar, I think I'll be off to a good start come May 1.

My time management schemes that are tied to clock time always fail dramatically. I can't seem to stop the wishful thinking that I can accomplish more in an hour just by penciling in another task to do in that hour.

I've been working with a new system called The Secret Weapon that combines David Allen's Getting Things Done book with Evernote software. It's working so far. Here's an overview video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQObM8qrE6gAnd here are a bunch of videos that describe how to implement the system: http://www.thesecretweapon.org/

So, that's what I'm using for today's task. Although I've had this mostly implemented for a couple of weeks, this reminded me that I don't have social media, blogging, or even my writing tasks in it. Thanks! Correcting that now.

This is something I'll work on. Online time sucks too much away from writing time, and part of that is my lack of discipline. So a time plan it is! I'll make May 1 my goal to implement. I seem to be able to write just about any time of day (I'm retired, so maybe having that kind of freedom is in itself a problem!), but I tend to get into the social media stuff early in the morning, and it drags out too long.

The thing is, I KNOW what I need to do: shut off email notification, close the browser, and get to work. Allow myself breaks, as you suggest, Robert. I'll try your "15 minute" system.

Done. Well, again, in progress. I had to create one to do my editorial calendar, like @MelJones or it wouldn't work. Now, if I can just get my newly extended family that now live with me to honor that I'm WORKING when I'm on the computer at home. Onward!Oh, and you GO, @Misky! Stir that oatmeal and tag at the same time. Yowsa! lol

After spending years in the world of cubibles, creating a schedule for my day gives me hives. Also, with two little ones no day is every the same.

For me, I have found it works best to check all my social media first thing in the morning (once everyone is fed and I have a chance to open the computer). This takes varying amounts of time depending on if it is a blog post day.

Once that is all done, my mind is calm enough to get to writing. If I don't do it first, then I find it hard to let go of what isn't done enough to let the creative juices flow.

I'll check back in at lunch or later in the day, but I get all the heavy lifting done first thing.

My biggest problem with time management is my day job. :-). Lunch breaks are spent catching up on social media and blogs. Evenings are the same as well as working on my log log and spending time with my husband. We don't have kids and are home bodies so evenings are pretty free. My biggest problem is making sure to work on my novel while keeping up with writing for the blog. That is what I'm trying to figure out now!

I live by my "to do" list. Every morning, I meditate and focus on the approach I will take to the priority items on my list. Then, I turn on my computer, check e-mail, social media, etc., and begin working on my highest priority items. I am very fortunate to have a quiet house so I can focus on the writing/promoting which needs to be done each day. My girls are in college and, after having had a houseful of kids and a full-time job, I really appreciate this quiet time in my life when I can focus on what I want to do each day. Ah . . .

I am ramping up my website on June 1st after I get back from vacation. Thanks to you I know have a time management plan for better blogs, guest blogs, and the freebies I want to develops. Oh yeah, and time for a better presence on social media. I can't wait.

Great tips from everyone (Anne Kimball I love your wit!) I'm the opposite of most of ya'll - I write first in the am (sometimes at 5am, sometimes later) and try to get in a good hour or more on my "writing days". I leave social media for after lunch or in the evening - it doesn't take as much brain power and actually wakes me up a little. I think I do better if I do a little each day- when I get behind I feel overwhelmed.

I must admit, I was a facebook junkie before I started writing my blog. The time it takes to write my blog daily keeps me from being on FB any more than I need to. A game of Lexulous with my sister who lives across country is just about all I have time for each day. I write first, then catch up with family if there's time.

Thanks again for the work you've put into this challenge Robert. It's been a blast!

My time management plan tends to change monthly (the better to accomodate challenges :-p) and has to be pretty flexible. It is in place though, which is good because without it I'd get lost on Twitter for hours and hours.

I'm so glad you said "beginning on May 1." ;) Everything until then is just about WRITINGWRITINGWRITING, and sprinting for the finish line.

I like your idea of taking 15 minute breaks after major tasks/projects. In fact, I think I already do this, by desire and default. Social media feels like "admin" to me, and I'm pretty good about doing a few minutes of admin (email cleanup, check in on updates, etc.) every couple of hours, out of sheer need for the break.

I'm also a big fan of what I call "bundling." Once I fall into the page, I like to stay there. So sometimes admin has to wait for bedtime, when my brain's too exhausted to do anything else. Both work for me, so far. Going to try to be more strategic and purposeful moving forward, though.

The query I sent for yesterday's assignment, asking to write a guest post at the Emerging Education Technology website (www.emergingedtech.com), has been accepted! Thanks for getting me to send that query, Robert — I will try to incorporate guest blogging into my overall writing mix more often in the future.

Now on to today's assignment:

I am usually pretty good at scheduling my time, even when things get a bit chaotic. I usually use 'regular' working hours (shifted a bit when I'm working assignments with editors or sources in different time zones) for phone calls, sending / receiving emails, researching potential new assignments and writing queries, etc. I also work on writing assignments during the day when I'm on assignment or when I've got a really big project going and I need to find 'extra' hours to get the work done.

Going forward, the 9-5ish hours will probably be where my social networking and platform building efforts will fit best, but I'll probably also pop in briefly at the end of each day, to see if there's anything important to respond to the following day.

My writing time usually conforms to the 'quiet' hours — early morning, early evening, late night, very late nite (a whole different part of the day for me, really).

Flexibility is definitely key. When I was working on the manuscript for my encyclopedia (Spaceflight: A Historical Encyclopedia), I was faced with the prospect of researching and writing 650,000 words in about 18 months, so I did a day session every day, then an early evening session, and then another late at nite. I say "session" rather than "writing" because each article I wrote required research, writing, editing, fact checking, etc.

So my plan going forward is to incorporate my platform building and social networking into my 'regular' work hours, while keeping my writing time as 'pure' as possible.

Mel Jones - Thank you for the mention of Google Calendar. I think this might be the perfect tool for me! Yay!!

I have resisted making lists in the past because I tend to work better working in go-with-the-flow style. Even when I'm writing, I tend to just write rather than working with an outline. However, I do see the benefits of the lists/outlines, so I'm attempting to train myself to work better with them. :-D

I've been using Things, a task management system incorporating David Allen's ideas in Getting Things Done. And iCal. The system works for me, except that it doesn't sync between computers and now it's stopped synching to iPhone properly. So, thanks @joy weese moll, I'm looking at Evernote and thinking about using it and some form of Secret Weapon.The break idea for social media would be great, except that's what I use for aerobic wake-me-ups and all kinds of other little tasks. I use mornings and early afternoons (morning starts at 12 for me) for what I call Drudge--everything from changing cat litter to research to taking online challenges.

Done. I actually wrote a guest blog post on my time management plan for someone from one of my LinkedIn groups; it'll be published on her blog in a few months. Good example of how different parts of the challenge feed each other!

One thing more--I've been making a list of all the things either in these challenges or arising from them that I need to explore further. Those are all on my "Next" bucket in Things and will be scheduled to pop up in "Today" when the April challenge is complete.

This is oh-so-timely for me! I have to focus on getting my novel ready for submission, and have to have it done by the end of May. This means that the 2+ hours I've been spending on the internet have to stop. I am planning on getting up earlier and do most of my blog post commenting and writing before I go to work. Twitter is going to scaled back, but will maybe happen at night with a severe time-limit. Facebook, too. I love social media, but I figure I have to keep in mind why I even started using it, which is to help with a writing career. If you don't have a writing career, there isn't much point in having a blog, twitter, etc...

I think my social media checking schedule has already been made for me. The last few weeks i haven't been on a computer, so have only had my smartphone while on site. I've checked on lunch break, and after dinner. In order to make the most of my time, I will probably do 2 major social networking breaks per day: at lunch and after dinner. Work takes up another 8-9 hours, and then i'll save my evenings for writing. And my husband. Its cutting back from where I was, but I think that's the right mix for this time in my life.

well I have to first put in my time at my money making job. after I come home I use my list to get the project of getting the house organized done. I have been doing a major cleanout and organize and only since I have begun this challenge am I getting things actually DONE!. Thank you for that. By May 1st I will be able to use that time to get to my writing and finish a book I have been working on way to long.Then will start my series I want to do.

Robert,I did one on Friday to begin for yesterday (Monday) to next Sunday. I did a weekly goal list that is specific either in terms of quanity or amount of time. It accouts for weekly writing, reading, social media, blogs, etc. I will review on Sunday and see what I accomplished that week. My health is the main factor that will limit my goals for a particular week. In short, this task is done.Monique

Robert, I think I love you. No matter how disorganized and discouraged I am feeling about all things platform-related, your posts always make me feel that getting a handle on all this is possible. Thank you!Done, and moving into the testing phase.

Done... and will continue to work on. Like you, I aim to do social media in 15 minute blocks as a relief between larger work. However... I can confess that, when the larger work is a drudge task (for me, that might mean finishing taxes or polishing a resume or certain kinds of grading; not fiction, since that's my joy-writing), the social media can be a very tempting draw. I can attest to times I've found an hour or more passed -- I may have found some great things to read along the way, but sometimes I was just clicking back and forth between forums and avoiding the harder work. Also, as you say, writing blogs takes longer than it seems, so the mornings I've taken time out for those sometimes push back other writing (or marketing) work. Hopefully this will get better over time, so time management will continue to be a strategy I work on.

Day 23 DONE. Thank you for not putting this at the beginning of the challenge because I would have had no idea how time consuming social media and I would have gotten down on myself for not being able to "Do it ALL"

Now I have realistically set my time management with an eye to reigning myself in and focusing on the writing.

As an aside, thank you also for pushing us to do the query. I sent it out last night around 9 PM and woke up to a positive response in my inbox.

So exciting, I stepped out of my comfort zone and didn't even have to deal with a rejection the first time around!

Ever the scientific geek. I have time my "performance" over the past two week and noted attributes like: good day, bad day, sick day.

Due to the fact that I have a full time 9-5 job, the day breaks down as follows:

1. get the prompts for the day by 8 am if published and start mentally churning. (PAD/Challenge season or day)

2. For blogs I follow, read postings during lunch and post a comment or two if possible. Modern cell phones are amazing!

2. After the kids go to bed, check in on social media and writer buddies as my mind transition to that of a writer. Start at 8:30 pm and keep going till I get it done. No later than 11pm. ~ quality of work has been noted to degrade after that point.

** Weekends are different. I tend to write early in the morning shortly after I wake up. Spend the remaining time with the family. I typically write some more after they go to bed.

After day 15 or so, I was already planning my schedule. But for this challenge, I went a step further and had to make an hourly schedule by the week. That's how busy I am. And to complicate things, my work days, kids' sports schedule and my triathlon training is not the same for everyday. So everyday needs to be scheduled differently. I'm feeling overwhelmed just looking at my schedule. There is not enough hours in a day, for sure!

I know my day tends to start at around 7:45am--it's the rest of the day, and the end of the day, that causes problems! On an average work day, I have a 3.5 hour gap between the classes I teach, though at least an hour of that time is office hours--so given the 2 hours that are mine, I tend to spend that time on social network pages. So my schedule is basically wake up, check email and Facebook, work, check and update social networks, work-work-work, go home and work, and the rest of the day I zombie. I think now I can make my schedule "prepare for the next day's blogging and other writings the evening before"--so that I'd be writing blog posts the night before they post. But if I'm being honest, the more practical "schedule" would be "prep for blog posts between Saturday and Sunday" and "spend the bulk of the work week teaching and grading, with pockets of networking when the work-related tasks are done." So I'm calling myself DONE! for now--but knowing I have some more work to do!

This was a good reminder to put the big rocks (writing) in th jar before adding the little rocks ( social media) in. I like Roberts reward strategy; I am a sucker for awards. When I write for 45 minutes I get a 15 minute social media break.

Shoot ... I did this in January. Color-coded and everything. Granted, I ignored it as soon as I made it, but I still try to get everything. I rely heavily on the kids' morning cartoons and naptimes to get my writing time in, as well as a hour of gym time on a daily basis for my sanity. If only the dishes would get done too ...

Love time management plans! I have a version I'm trying out this week to see if it's actually doable, and will adjust as necessary. Still dealing with the learning curves of all my social media, & still hoping that will mellow out in the near future!

Oh, Robert, I'm laughing. My Professional Organizer daughter put me on a calendar some time ago. (Not that I stick to it.) Every task is there including trash pick up day. She is a beautiful example of how to use extra minutes to get it all done...and still I procrastinate.

To my credit, I do have a my iCalendar color coded with Writing as one color. My blog topics are listed (in purple) for their appropriate Mondays. I like your idea of 15 min for FB, etc. Wish my laptop had a stopwatch.

Yesterday, I created a 30 day Organizing Challenge, based on your model, for her. She is considering using it to "encourage" clients to keep up after she organizes their homes. Thank you for helping us both!

This is an ongoing process for me. I tend to jump back and forth between over scheduling and floating free form from day to day. I've never made a calendar specifically for writing before though. I like the 15 minute Social networking idea. That could work with either method. So, I am still working on the Editorial calendar. It will need to include my website work along with writing.

The time management monster will never be defeated, but I work constantly at keeping him under control.

I check my email, FB first in a.m, and sometimes CHPercolator, whose prompts can trigger a piece. I try to walk before I hit the computer, but if i hit the computer first i sit until noon. If I have a class to teach i go for that too; i have several calendars; time management got me through college, and i worked for attorneys for years who counted time in .6 minute incrimentsl. I usually spend Sundays tutoring a class as a service and then by nighttime all my teaching material for the next weeks workshops are done.My husband watches sports now, he's slowed down as he's older, so i either read, study, or hit the computer; i am an enormous communicator; and i have a list on my desk top of things to do; then there's people to drive, people to chew the fat with for coffee, a lot of activities. I've always functioned with a lot to do. Hopefully i'll slow down a bit in May; learning curves and techy stuff has kept me off kilter but it's fine; am glad i am learning. I just plow forward hoping i'll get it.I don't think I've shrunk my URL's, i volunteered to guest a blog, I'm connected to people in this group; great group; i do Goodreads too; and i think that's an imperative, and CH Perc, and I read voracioiusly, plus am active in community work. My life is my material, so I burst around like an untrained dalmation. i check blog throughout the day and more in the evening, but i like to create in the mornings.

Is it considered DONE if I constantly make lists of what time to do what? And now I have to schedule in the social media stuff, which I've always done on a maybe-I'll-look-at-FB-once-a-week time. The problem is, I feel great about developing hourly schedules for weeks at a time, but executing them is a whole other story. Since I've never been good at time-management, will adding additional stuff into a schedule (checking on and posting to Twitter?) disrupt life even more? So onto learning iCal...and trying to stick to it!

Now that I'm writing full time trying to figure out a writing schedule has been difficult. I spend way too much time blogging and not enough time working on my novel. I need to learn how to write shorter blog posts. Blog posts seems to take forever to research and write. I also need to figure out and what time I will use social media so that I don't waste too much time on Facebook!

Starting in January with the new year, I knew I needed to have something to help me keep on track with everything. So I created a calendar template for each month and list what I need to get done for each day. At the beginning of each month I fill the slots with generalities (book/blog/website/exercise/etc). At the beginning of each week I am able to be more specific (blog 8-9/book 9-12/website 1-2/etc). Most days, I check off what I've gotten through with. This is very manual, but writing things down keeps my head sorted out. Like some of the rest of you, I also get my emails and replies out of the way first thing in the morning and then I can focus on my writing.

Time management plan--I'm thinking for me that means the same thing as balance. Balance for me comes when I am doing what I believe God wants me to do. That means staying "tuned in" to Him, being aware of Him, having my heart turned towards Him and open and willing to do what He wants me to do. He's the best boss and time manager I ever met.